Crackling and Late on playback with Focusrite

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 with Sonar 8.5.33 on i7 Pavilion laptop 16 RAM. The Scarlett driver is set as the Timing and Playback Master and running in WDM mode. No more than two audio tracks are running.
 
Crackling:
Crackling is loud, consistent and persistent at all times during playback.
 
Late:
The cursor is well past the data before the audio is heard, perhaps as much as a quarter note at 120 bpm. 
 
Thanks - rev
 
 

You definitely want to be using the 2i2 in ASIO mode for best performance.  Changing Sonar to use ASIO will most likely clear up the issue.  If it does not, it would be a good idea to make sure you are using the latest drivers.  If those do not help, there are some Windows settings outlined in this article that can have an effect:
For Win7:
http://us.focusrite.com/answerbase/optimising-your-pc-for-audio-on-windows-7
For Win8:
http://us.focusrite.com/answerbase/optimising-your-pc-for-audio-on-windows-8
 
If you continue to have issues as Cactus Music mentioned, it could be a DPC latency problem.  For more on DPC latency:
 
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
 
If you continue to have trouble after trying the above, please contact Focusrite support using this link:
 
http://us.focusrite.com/answerbase/contact

I did the optimization but it shouldn't be necessary on an i7 machine with 16 RAM. I ran the latency util and it was all in the green (good) with a red bar reaching to the second line occasionally. I made screen shots but I'm unable to attach images because that feature on this site isn't doesn't seem to be working. 
 
 
The message from the latency util was 'Cool, should be able to stream audio and vid with no dropouts' then it changed to 'some drivers are behaving bad (not my grammar) on this machine, use Device Manager and Disable drivers one-by-one to find the misbehaving driver.'
 
We're really not talking about misbehavior, we're talking about totally unusable. The focusrite driver makes everything sound like it's underwater. The native HD audio driver also has clicks when running Sonar and the cursor is well past the data before you hear the notes. 

I wasn't playing back audio at the time, didn't know to do that so I'll try that tomorrow. Thanks, I'll post back.

>rendering the laptop useless for audio
Yeah, this is hugely disappointing, I bought the laptop for the sole purpose of doing audio on it. I even posted here for a recommendation before I purchased but no one had a suggestion. So I took the plunge and then bought the Focusrite interface so I'm down $1,000 and it's all looking useless.
 
I tried the tweaks (no change after disabling wireless) but couldn't get rid of three spikes per screen running dpclat. Then I ran the RATT util (despite the fact that it 'doesn't to work on x64 systems.' The report didn't give me a summary per driver - I just got one result for "Unknown."
 
There were a huge number of DPC calls but since no driver was named, the report was of no help. I didn't think of battery management so I'll try that next but it's not looking good. 

OK, I've managed to get rid of all red bars in the latency tester. But no change. 
 
The High Def driver that comes with the laptop almost works, there's crackling and you don't hear the data on time but at least it can be heard.
 
The Scarlett driver is unchanged. The notes are indistinguishable sounds like a spring being tweaked underwater and it plays the track in slow motion. What next?

Scary looking web site, I'd think twice about that. Good way to instal all sorts of malware etc.
 
Revnice, don't get to carried away with every suggestion for OS tweaks. Asking for advice on the internet is a 50/50 crap shoot for receiving the correct solutions. Sounds like your laptop is up to it now anyways.
If you got rid of the DPC spikes then that is not the problem. It's a good starting point for sure.
Good news is your laptop will work perfectly fine once you sort out the driver issue.
I would see if you can borrow another brand of interface to test what's up with the drivers.
And I hope your not actually using your on board card at all, get rid of any traces of it in Sonar.
It's drivers could be interfering with the Scarlet drivers. I would disable the on board audio card drivers and see what happens. It's easy to toggle it on and off.
 

> Scary looking web site, I'd think twice about that. Good way to instal all sorts of malware etc.
 
Standard response, sort of getting bored of it. Sorry you are wrong, I understand where you are coming from but you are wrong it is not crapware. It's actually the best driver update facility I've found, I have tested it, it has helped loads of others. Just be careful how you install it. If you haven't installed and tested it fully like I have (and others) then please don't pass judgement.
 
> Revnice, don't get to carried away with every suggestion for OS tweaks. Asking for advice on the internet is a 50/50 crap shoot for receiving the correct solutions.
 
Thanks for that Cactus I shall remember that (I find that extremely rude to be honest as that comment is clearly directed towards me). Disabling speedstep actually worked for me with my saffire Pro 40 when I had a very similar issue, and this has resolved many other peoples issues with symptoms (regardless of interface).


BTW these are not OS tweaks (I'm not asking to go into the registry or disabling services), this is changing a BIOS setting and updating drivers, sensible for this scenario.
 
P.S. Another thing to try is disabling the high def driver (device manager) and any onboard audio in the BIOS. If you are running antivirus please temporally disable it. Running windows update is always recommended. And (really important) have you checked windows event viewer recently?
 
P.P.S. (unrelated to post I apologise) my degree is in computer science and I've been around PC's since the very early 1990s and home computers since 1980. I'd bang on about my broad scope of high and low end IT jobs but as you know the internet is a 50/50 crap shoot and I know you don't give a monkeys where I'm coming from (personally I can't stand people who bang on about their own credentials or other peoples, or pass judgement upon hunch rather than actual investigation). All you need to know is that I have a track record in the forums (mainly the Sonar X series) and I tend to respect people first rather than dismiss them, so maybe try again, I will (clean sheet)....

Did you run windows update several times (there have been several USB fixes for instance)?
I also suggest you install the optional performance fixes in windows update.
You said you disabled onboard sound - in the BIOS?
Disable intel speedstep in the BIOS just for fun I suggest anyway.
See if you can pull out all USB devices other than you keyboard and mouse (heck maybe even pull out the keyboard and mouse when playing and put them back in). See if you can hear Angus screeching his head off.

Any later drivers here to try (what version of mix control are you running?) NB stick to ASIO mode.
http://beta.focusrite.com/releases/scarlett_mixcontrol/

Anything at all in in the event viewer?
Maybe a screenshot of mix control would be nice.
 
Last thing to try, driver Booster should have updated your motherboard chipset drivers (I hope), but I'm wondering if there is a BIOS update for your motherboard?
 
Focusrite support are brilliant BTW, might be worth sending an email so you can get on their call logging. You might want to point them to this thread, maybe even do a non indexed YouTube vid (you don't have to, just an idea). I notice they've even be posting here but you will probably need to log an issue with them once all this is exhausted.
 
Any other ideas Johnny (don't worry we are friends now, apols for coming down so hard)..
 
Cheers...

No probs I've been the same with other people myself I apologise for reacting.

Sorry but I shall paste the other questions again...
 
Did you run windows update several times (there have been several USB fixes for instance)?
I also suggest you install the optional performance fixes in windows update.
You said you disabled onboard sound - in the BIOS? (I'm checking how you did it).
Anything at all in in the event viewer?
Maybe a screenshot of mix control would be nice.
 
Any later drivers here to try (what version of mix control are you running?) NB stick to ASIO mode.
http://beta.focusrite.com/releases/scarlett_mixcontrol/ (beta drivers!)
 
>BIOS update for your motherboard?
Possibly, I'll look but the machine is really new.
 
Please do. thanks.
 
And here is how to turn off Intel Speedstep for I7 (I think, I just did a google):
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100308130827AA18AEG
 
Geographically, I'm two months from everywhere so it's going to be difficult to substitute the Scarlett but I think that has to be next.
 
Without trying the above first or pasting any errors??
Focusrite normally take two working days to respond via email, however I strongly recommend you take heed of this so you can rule everything out first (don't jump the gun, if anything this will be good for your future interface if you believe there is a fault).
 
You'll need to put in the time, so when you get a chance...
 
Cheers.

As you probably already know , troubleshooting is a process of elimination. And the fastest way to the solution is a substitution of components. 
It is looking more and more like the interface to me. 
So you say you can't get your hands on an other interface, how about another computer? 

I got it going! In an act of desperation I thought was sure to be futile, I reinstalled the latest Mix Control and the latest driver and everything came good. I have no idea why, they were there already.
 
I began undoing all the suggested tweaks I'd made to the machine one by one, enabling everything I'd disabled and nothing changed, the Focusrite still worked flawlessly. No problems with throughput or latency. Baffling...
 
I'm overjoyed that I can finally work with Sonar and the money wasn't wasted on the machine or the interface.
 
Thanks to all of you who chimed in on this post, I just wish I had a satisfactory answer as to why.
 
rev
 
 

>Yup so it was clearly the focusrite drivers.
Kinda. I can't figure out why though.

>and may your next 3 years be trouble free. 
A nice thought dude - thanks for that. Yes, I wish I knew what the problem was but I'm happy it's gone.